Today Suzhou Port was very crowded, filled with thousands of Ming people. Not only the commoners, but the nobles, and even the emperor were also be present there. All of them were having their sights focused on a person. A legendary person - despite coming from the lower class, but he would have his name echo throughout the ages, and throughout the world, as one of the greatest heroes from Ming Dynasty who shook the history of human civilization, especially in the aspect of marine and exploration.
Zhu Di, and the entire Ming royal family - of course including Zhu Su - were looking at that tall, sturdy man. Admiral Zheng He.
On this memorable day, as the chief envoy, Zheng He would lead plenty of majestic giant ships on the journey of sailing the Indian Ocean, which would later be recorded by world historians with the name "Ming Treasure Voyages". The first journey sailed by Zheng He would start from Suzhou to Fujian, then went towards Vietnam, then to Malacca, to Majapahit in Java and Sumatra, and continued to India. Zheng He's fleet ships possesed extensive and wide-ranging preparations. Not only consisting of extraordinary sailing ships, they even owned armed forces to defend themselves in case they were attacked by enemies or hit by a sudden disaster. The Ming fleet was so tremendous some historians stated that the capacity of the entire fleet had far exceeded Vasco Da Gama's fleet at the end of the 16th century, while at that time Ming Dynasty just entered the beginning of the 15th century.
After Zhu Di claimed the throne and became Yongle Emperor, and after he was confident that Ming had reached its most glorious stage, he thus took another step - to echo Ming's capacity as a large country to other countries, as well as to establish broader foreign relations. He used the state assets equivalent to the harvest of the Ming country for two years to finance this entire trip, so the results was not half the battle. Yet after all, at the beginning of the 15th century, Ming was possibly one of the most powerful nations in the world. And for the position of the admiral - as the highest leader of the voyage - he entrusted Zheng He.
Zheng He had a very unfortunate past life. He was born in Yunnan to a family served for the Yuan Dynasty government. He had originally surnamed Ma, named Ma He. He was born to a Muslim family, Hui Ethnic, his ancestor came from Persia. When the Ming army invaded and conquered Yunnan, Ma He's father died while resisting the Ming conquest. One day General Fu Youde saw the 10 years old Ma He was alone on the roadside, then asked Ma He about the Yuan soldier who was trying to escape, since he thought Ma He knew the soldiers' whereabouts.
But instead of answering, Ma He turned his gaze away, said indifferently. "They have all thrown themselves into the lake!"
"Huh?! How dare you tell a lie, kid?!" Got furious, Fu Youde caught Ma He. He even castrated that poor little boy.
Being caught by the conqueror of his land and also the killer of his family, and even being castrated, Ma He was undeniably enduring a very tragic fate. However, Ma He was evidently a very stoic child, as well as very agile and adaptable to new environment. Ma He was made a eunuch at Yan Fan Wang Guo to serve Zhu Di. Shortly, Ma He won Zhu Di's trust, possibly because of his tall stature and loud voice. When Ma He was adult he reached 190 cm in height. It was said that during Jingnan Campaign Ma He had brilliantly rescued Zhu Di in the Battle of Zhengcunba Village. For this achievement, Zhu Di rewarded Ma He the surname "Zheng", and from this time Ma He changed his name to Zheng He. Zheng He became Zhu Di's confidant. Even for this very important voyage, the emperor entrusted it to him.
"I really hope that you will accomplish this duty brilliantly. Establish a close friendship with other countries, and show them the magnificence of The Great Ming." That was Zhu Di's order to Zheng He.
Zheng He knelt down, answered in a very respectful manner, "I will do my very best to carry out your order, Your Majesty!"
Following Zheng He, the entire Ming fleet also hailed, "We will do our utmost to carry out the order from Your Majesty! To show to the world, the magnificence of The Great Ming!"
The anchor was weighed. The sail was taken in. Now they started to put to sea. Slowly, the huge fleet left Suzhou Port, put to sea, and finally, vanished at the horizon, at the furthest sea boundary line.
Seeing the whole spectacular events that happened just now, Zhu Su felt his admiration for his elder brother doubled. Those giant ships were so magnificent... the arm forces appeared so strong, so gallant... and when he watched the entire fleet put to sea, he felt so proud as he could become the part who viewed the grand event. And more than anything, he was very proud of having a powerful brother.
When Zhu Su heard the crowd hailed, "Long live our Great Ming, forever and ever!", he whispered in his mind, Brother Di, you are obviously the greatest emperor of all time. You have even surpassed Fu Huang. Congratulation, Brother! We all can be sure that the future generation will remember you as The Very Best Emperor of the Great Ming.
***
Rumilie was very far from that tumultuous and joyful place.
Even more, the area he was sitting right now was totally the reverse - it was a quiet, abandoned area, where the rocks became the conspicuous things in this barren, cracked land.
Rumilie bowed his head. Sometimes his whole body trembled. Despair overwhelmed his whole mind. His eyes beamed in anger, as the incident he watched just now with his own eyes was so unacceptable for him.
The incident when Xie Wang got executed by poisoning.
On the top of a roof, he watched Xie Wang promptly vomited blood after drinking poison, thus passed away, then and there. It was as if he was sliced by the sharps knives. At the same time, the flames of anger spread throughout his body. His whole body soon got by rage.
Zhou Wang, you are a son of a bitch! How dare you kill my lord! But... this is not over yet... not over yet! You may kill my lord... and I will avenge him!
Rumilie stood up. His eyes burned in anger. He was ready. To push Zhu Su into the brink of death. This time, he would unleash all of his abilities he had been learning for decades so as to fulfill his mission.